Notes:
This story just got away from me. I intended it
to be a long prologue rather than to be what it is.
This is Pluto's tale. Maybe its cause I now
live somewhere shrouded in mist/fog most days, or
maybe it is because I've always favored Pluto
despite her mysteriousness. I don't know--
or maybe its cause a very nice friend of mine
gave me a chibi-pluto doll. ;) Inspiration exists
where you find it right?
To Roofshadow: Thanks for the inspirational words,
but I'm afraid Zoy and Amy's resolution will
wait yet another story or two!
But at least this will explain what happened to
Pluto in GOM:COH. ;).
So the order is now:
Guardians of the Millenium: Destined for Love
GOM: Into the Fire
GOM: Storm of the Stars
GOM: Pyramids of Ice
GOM: Chain of Hearts
GOM: Bridges of Time (To be finnished by August's end)
GOM: Ribbons of Silence
Guardians of the Millenium: End of the Millenium (????)
***********
Perhaps it looked odd, the solitary soldier of time carrying
the large slumbering form in her arms. Luckily, Zoicite had never
been a large individual whatever her/his mutations. Still her
gait lost some of its smooth precision, as she struggled into
the hallway. She did not have to walk far, for there in the
corridors dimensions whirled at will. Pluto had the strength to
control how long the journey seemed to her. So quickly enough
for her, she found her way into the large crystal palace. Even though only
the inner Senshi called it home, she found a surprising sense of warm
nostaliga ease a bit of the constriction in her throat. This too,
if she thought about it, had been her home. Though not for a long
long time.
"Venus." She said as the surprised eyes of the leader of the inner
guard met her eyes.
"Why aren't you at the Gate? Did you know we're
under attack? Who's--"It took Venus a second to realize
the difference in uniforms, to take in the slight age difference, to realize
the Pluto she saw could not be the one she'd grown used to in recent years.
"Setsuna!?" So stunned was Venus that she didn't know whether to
hug the long lost woman, or demand an explanation. She never called
the Sailor Pluto who guarded the gates Setsuna, but the name hurled out
involuntarily. She shifted her gaze to the man/woman in Pluto's arms.
And before Pluto could say anything, the memories returned to Venus. So much
time had passed, but she could remember the night she'd fought
Lia La Met (Zoicite) with perfect clarity. That had been the last
time Venus had fought as Sailor V. That night had ended with Pluto
taking the defeated Zoicite and dissappearing without explanation. They
had not seen her again, until the building of Crystal Tokyo. Yet then,
it had been a different Pluto, a slightly younger version than the one who
stood before them. One who did not remember having met them in the
twenthieth century, had not powered up as they had.
She wasn't their friend, and somehow, they'd not been able to accept her
on quite the same terms...the decision had not been a collective one, but
certainly seemed a mutual decision. The younger Pluto kept to the Gates,
and never really appeared at the castle. The only one who visited her there
was Neo-Queen Serenity. In the Neo-Queen's state though, it was about the
only trip she could manage. A smile passed Venus' face at the image of the
pregnant Queen, waddling about, as the King hovered anxiously behind
her.
Venus collected her thoughts, and forced herself to deal with the present
situation. "I'll take you to him." She said. "Mercury and Malachite
are with him....We wondered if the attack awakened him, do you know--"
"No. Here." With that Pluto tossedthe man to Venus. Venus awkardly caught
Zoicite's prone form in her arms.
"Hey!?" She yelped. Utter confusion swelled her eyes as she
stared at Pluto's retreating form. "What the?"
Venus knew she should feel more in control. Where were the words
to command Pluto to stop? She was the Captain of the Royal Eternal
Guard, after all. And they'd waited for years, a century really,
for Pluto to reappear. Why was she so stunned? How could she
just let Pluto walk away without any sort of explanation. Was
the waking of Zoycite just a coincidence? "He woke this morning.
What am I supposed to do with her!?" She indicated the woman
in her arms.
"I see." Pluto replied. "I hoped to come before he awoke, and
the attack started...it doesn't matter. I must return to the gate."
"You just got here!" Venus argued. "Don't leave! Everyone
will want to see you!"
Pluto smiled, but her eyes remained sad. "I love you all, but
I cannot." And with that, she raised her
staff , whispered some words, and dissappeared.
Struggling under the weight a bit, Venus pushed a square and moved
into the hallway that led to where Zoycite's other self waited.
"Fine. Leave us again, and don't tell me what's going on. " The rest
of her grumbling stopped under her struggles to navigate the corridors.
As she caught her breath she added "Why do you do this? How can you
say you love us, when you don't trust us to help? What is
going on with you? It's so simple for you--you just
disappear...but what am I supposed to do with her!?"
>From the mist of the gate, shrouded from any sense of her other selves
who may or may not have been near her, Pluto watched Venus wobble
with Zoycite. "No, my friend, it is not so simple."
For the first time in centuries, she realized that it was finally
over. All traces of the tear in Time would heal now, and she
could return to the Gate permanently. She was home, her mission
finnished.
She sunk to the ground and let the tears slide down her face.